Before the season started, senior Annie Lockwood was expected to bring leadership to an inexperienced ASU softball team.
What wasn’t expected was that she would have to do it while learning to play a new position.
With increasing offensive production from the outfielders, coach Clint Myers brought Lockwood in to first base.
Despite not having played the position since high school, Lockwood has excelled, committing no errors in 15 games at first base.
“I’m getting used to it,” Lockwood said after Saturday’s win against UA. “I still have a lot to learn. They talk to me a lot when I am out there, so that helps.”
Lockwood is only one of three players on the team who has started every game. She began the season in right field, but in 14 of the last 17 games, she’s taken up residence at the other hot corner.
“I think I’m more out there for motivational support for pitchers and a loud voice in the infield than anything,” Lockwood said.
Seniors making waves
Senior Katelyn Boyd is expected to etch her name quite profoundly all over the Sun Devils’ record book before she leaves the program.
Boyd is 18 RBI away from passing Katie Cochran for the most all-time, three home runs away from catching Mindy Cowles for second on the all-time list and nine hits from moving into third all-time, ahead of Kara Brun.
Boyd’s speed, combined with her offensive power, has also propelled her to being five stolen bases away from Kristin Farber for second most in school history as well as seven doubles behind Cochran for the career high in that category.
Senior pitcher Hillary Bach (14-0, 0.85 ERA) is two wins short of taking sole possession of the No. 2 spot on the all-time wins list.
Dual-threat pitching
Sophomore Dallas Escobedo and Bach combined last week to shut down the UA bats.
Both pitchers were taken out of the game in favor of the other, and both picked up wins, partly because of their cooperation.
“I struggled Saturday and Dallas had my back, so today when I got the opportunity to have her back, it was really important to me that I made a statement,” Bach said after the 7–6 win over UA on Sunday.
Despite having very little time to warm up, Bach was effective shutting things down after a double by UA junior Baillie Kirker.
“There was no hesitation about her going in,” Myers said. “In fact, I told her she had five minutes … This was before the game even started. If the call comes, she has five minutes and she will be in.”
Myers was confident in his pitching going forward after Sunday’s game and expressed how hard it is to pitch in the Pac-12.
“We aren’t perfect, and we are going to miss a spot every now and then, but it doesn’t matter because even great perfect pitches get hit,” Myers said. “That’s the great thing about this game. You can make the most perfect pitch in the world, but there are no guarantees it won’t be hit.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
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